Word of the day

[2jules7]

Today little Barney had to go to the vet. Tommy was very sad when he heard his dog was stultified.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Sunday, August 23, 2009

reticent \RET-ih-suhnt\, adjective:

1. Inclined to keep silent; reserved; uncommunicative.
2. Restrained or reserved in style.
3. Reluctant; unwilling.

His wispy eyebrows sit above eyes undimmed by more than forty years of serious scholarship; a tight-lipped smile suggests that there are many things he will not say about himself or his accomplishments. Indeed, he is almost painfully reticent about what most scholars now consider to be a monumental achievement in the field.
-- Marc K. Stengel, "The Diffusionists Have Landed", The Atlantic, January 2000

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Monday, August 24, 2009

flout \FLOWT\, transitive verb:

1. To treat with contempt and disregard; to show contempt for.
2. To mock, to scoff.
3. Mockery, scoffing.

The thorough training in the fine points of lyric writing that he has received from Hammerstein has made Sondheim highly critical of those lyricists who flout the basic techniques of the craft.
-- "Sondheim: Lyricist and Composer", New York Times, March 6, 1966

[2jules7]

Children who flout others will sit reticent in the time out chair.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, August 25, 2009

truckle \TRUHK-uhl\, intransitive verb:

1. To yield or bend obsequiously to the will of another; to act in a subservient manner.
2. A small wheel or roller; a caster.

Only where there was a "defiance," a "refusal to truckle," a "distrust of all authority," they believed, would institutions "express human aspirations, not crush them."
-- Pauline Maier, "A More Perfect Union", New York Times, October 31, 1999

[2jules7]

The skateboard truckled down the hill.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, August 26, 2009

rictus \RIK-tuhs\, noun:

1. The gape of the mouth, as of birds.
2. A gaping grin or grimace.

A rictus of cruel malignity lit up greyly their old bony faces.
-- James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

[2jules7]

The rictus upon Jacks face was an obvious sign that he was up to something.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Thursday, August 27, 2009

saturnine \SAT-uhr-nyn\, adjective:

1. Born under or being under the astrological influence of the planet Saturn.
2. Gloomy or sullen in disposition.
3. Having a sardonic or bitter aspect.

His saturnine spirit appealed to younger bohemians who were anxious to make idols of an earlier generation's tormented souls, but even so, it cannot have been easy for Rothko always to be the pessimist among the optimists.
-- Jed Perl, review of Mark Rothko: A Biography by James E.B. Breslin, New Republic, January 24, 1994

[2jules7]

The meaning of saturnine its pretty interesting to me.
I didnt know they had words like this about planets.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Friday, August 28, 2009

delectation \dee-lek-TAY-shun\, noun:

Great pleasure; delight, enjoyment.

Example Quotes:

Even after the buffet had evolved into the more functional sideboard in the 18th century, lavish arrangements of silver and porcelain continued to be laid out for the delectation of guests at large dinners.
-- Pilar Viladas, "That's Entertaining!", New York Times, March 24, 2002

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Saturday, August 29, 2009

chary \CHAIR-ee\, adjective:

1. Wary; cautious.
2. Not giving or expending freely; sparing.

What do you suppose the Founding Fathers, so chary of overweening government power, would make of a prosecutor with virtually unlimited reach and a staff the size of a small town?
-- "U.S. trampling rights at home and abroad", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 17, 1998

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Sunday, August 30, 2009

interlocutor \in-ter-LOK-yuh-ter\, noun:

1. Someone who takes part in a conversation, often formally or officially.
2. The performer in a minstrel show who is placed midway between the end men and engages in banter with them.

In the course of an hour, Mukasey cracked jokes, asked an interlocutor not to address him with the honorary title "General" and continued to field questions even after his media director moved to get up from the table.
-- Carrie Johnson, "Highest Lawman Prepares to Meet Highest Court", Washington Post, March 22, 2008

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Monday, August 31, 2009

diktat \dik-TAHT\, noun:

1. A harsh settlement unilaterally imposed on a defeated party.
2. An authoritative decree or order.

Whether with the rapid reaction force or with the Bosnian government, the United States should vigorously support efforts to lift the siege of Sarajevo and help to piece back together a contiguous territory so that the Bosnian government can come to the bargaining table free of a Serbian diktat.
-- "Why Bosnia matters", Commonweal, July 14, 1995

[2jules7]

She finds delectation in frollicking through sunflower fields.
The old house on Monster House is a chary place.
He was a fine interlocutor, you must go see him.
They werent pleased to see the diktat papers.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 1, 2009

fecund \FEE-kuhnd; FEK-uhnd\, adjective:

1. Capable of producing offspring or vegetation; fruitful; prolific.
2. Intellectually productive or inventive.

Wainscott's book is . . . focused squarely and surely on probably the most astonishingly fecund period in American theater history, 1914-1929.
-- James Coakley, Comparative Drama

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 2, 2009

abecedarian \ay-bee-see-DAIR-ee-uhn\, noun:

1. One who is learning the alphabet; hence, a beginner.
2. One engaged in teaching the alphabet.
3. Pertaining to the letters of the alphabet.
4. Arranged alphabetically.
5. Rudimentary; elementary.

Columba's poem is fittingly 'abecedarian', each stanza starts with a subsequent letter of the alphabet -- a harbinger of the Scottish appetite for cataloguing, and delight in craft.
-- WN Herbert, "A rhyme and a prayer", Scotland on Sunday, December 10, 2000

[2jules7]

The fecund trees on Farm Town are endless.
Kindergarten teachers act as abecedarians for the youngins.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 3, 2009

carom \KAIR-uhm\, noun:

1. A rebound following a collision; a glancing off.
2. A shot in billiards in which the cue ball successively strikes two other balls on the table.
3. To strike and rebound; to glance.
4. To make a carom.
5. To make (an object) bounce off something; to cause to carom.

The cart smashed into the steep hillside in explosive caroms and bounces, sending billows of dust and rock into the air.
-- Ev Ehrlich, Grant Speaks

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Friday, September 4, 2009

gadabout \GAD-uh-bout\, noun:

Someone who roams about in search of amusement or social activity.

In his unorthodox and callow way, he frequently upset and annoyed his countrymen, but they continued to vote for him, perhaps taking a vicarious pleasure in being led by such a world-famous gadabout.
-- "Milestones of 2000", Times (London), December 29, 2000